This blog follows a group of family and friends that love to explore and experience adventure. Through various options of travel whether by car, ATV, Jeep, or just a plain old pair of hiking boots we look for fun and exciting ways to learn about our world. Come along and get inspired. You might just find your own route to adventure.

Friday, October 14, 2016

Boo at the Zoo. A Visit to Utah's Hogle Zoo.

Fall is changing leaves and pumpkin flavored everything. Fall is trick or treats and autumn leaves coloring the skyline. Fall is one of the most fun times of the year and the animals at Utah's Hogle Zoo can say the same thing. Located at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, the zoo covers 42 acres. They recently just finished a new addition called the African Savanna and it is incredible. Through our travels we have realized what a gem this place really is. Its right up there with the big well known zoos in our book. Its so much more than just animals in cages. The animals seem very happy here and the employees all seem to love their jobs.

The zoo takes a great effort to keep the animals entertained and stimulated. You can often find toys, balls, tools, foods frozen in ice chunks or other seemingly random things the animals are exploring. They put things in their environment to keep them active and curious. This is just one glimpse of fun times. They put a box in with the Rhinos for them to mash up and demolish.

While I've never been to Africa I have been here a few times and I think this must be close to what the lions are doing in their natural environment. They can sprawl out over grassy hills or run and leap around their homes here. In the African Savanna you can see zebras, giraffes, lions and ostriches. You can also catch a ride on their train and get a tour around the park.

Like most zoos they take in animals that can't be out in the wild to live the rest of their lives. They feed this eagle lab test rats from a local college. I thought that little tidbit of information was interesting. Obviously they aren't lab tested with scary things and are still safe for consumption. When we watched them at feeding time the zoo keeper would toss the rat into the grass and the eagle would go find it. The rat is frozen and not about to scamper away but the eagle still gets to experience the food it would eat in the wild and on its terms. It was fun and kinda gross to watch.

My absolute favorite spot in the zoo is their Rocky Shores area. Bears, sea lions, seals and otters live here and put on fun shows. The polar bear loves to swim up to the glass and surprise the guests. I wish I had some pictures to show you but all I got was video and I cant get the video to upload. I borrowed this video from YouTube. Not ours but a great video of a great place.

Through out the month of October Hogle Zoo gets in a festive mood and decorates the animal enclosures with spooky scenes. At night they have BooLights which is crazy cool. They have awesome lights set up through out the park and even with in the animals areas. I found a video on YouTube that gives you a quick tour. This wasn't taken by us so we cant take any credit, but its the next best thing next to being there.

Thank you for touring this place with us. Its a great place to spend some time with the family. Do you know of other zoos that should be on our must see list? We would love to hear about it below in the comments.